Page 6 - Life Insurance Today FEBRUARY 2016
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types of insurances are also relevant for the low-income G Lack of promotion of informal or regulated insurance
market, including property and agricultural/livestock insur- schemes;
ance, this initiative focused mainly on two risks - death and
illness- that are most frequently identified in demand re- G Exclusions imposed like- for pre-existing conditions etc;
search.
But their findings on research revealed that micro-health
The research focused on the organizations that had at least insurance is indeed viable, even profitable under certain
three years of experience and covered at least 3,000 lives circumstances, but number of difficulties must be
in order to assess their results rather than their plans. The overcomed for it to succeed. It is very difficult to make
project primarily looked at experiences in Africa, Asia and these poor people understand the importance of having in
Latin America, and sought micro-insurers that employed a place a mechanism that protects them from various calami-
variety of different models and delivery structures, such as: ties.
G Partnerships between insurers and distribution agents
Firstly the steps need to be taken to inculcate in them the
such as cooperatives & MFIs; habit of buying health insurance as a matter of protection
and not to treat buying life insurance only as an invest-
G Regulated insurance companies that serve the low-in- ment. Keeping in mind the constraints associated with the
come market directly; task and to provide a fillip to the cause, the micro-insur-
ance regulations have been issued by the regulator, IRDA
G Healthcare providers offering a financing package and vide their extraordinary gazette notification no.147 dated
absorbing the insurance risk; 10/11/2005 with relaxations in the norms; and thus a mod-
est beginning has been made.
G Community-based programme that pool funds, carry
risk and manage a relationship with the health-care The IRDA has also put out the concept paper on micro-in-
provider; surance that is a formalization of the social sector cover-
age that the regulator would like to enable and ensure.
G Government-sponsored or subsidized insurance Being one of the key expectations of the society out of lib-
schemes for covering; eralization of the insurance market, developing micro-
health insurance and along healthy lines too is our regula-
G Self-insuring MFIs that assume the risk of offering in- tor IRDA's concern. It is now for the insurance players to
surance to their clients. take it upon themselves to put their best foot forward in
furthering this noble cause of implementing micro-health
The potential sample of micro-insurance health schemes insurance penetration in rural India in the immediate fu-
that met these criteria is not extensive. Many micro-insur- ture.
ance health schemes are newly introduced or the products
were yet to popularise by practice. They have found that It should not be merely
worldwide most micro-insurers have focused on the sim- taken as a busi-
plest insurance products to manage, especially to cover ness op-
credit life & health.
After that, the volume of available micro-insurance reduces
as product management complexity increases. To some
extent, the products most in demand in this under-served
market, such as health insurance, are precisely those that
are the least available for the poor. Some of the drawbacks
for the spread of micro-insurance are identified as:
G Low enthusiasm of commercial insurers for the low
income group;
G Limitation of benefits of composite products;
The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
6 February 2016 Life Insurance Today
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